The goal of this Weekly Rashi Digest is to use the weekly Torah portion to expose students at all levels to the ten major methods of commentary used by Rashi. It is hoped that continual weekly exposure to these ten major methods will enable students of all levels to acquire a familiarity and facility with the major exegetical methods.

Dt12-06 states And there you shall bring
• your burnt offerings, and
• your sacrifices, and
• your tithes, and
• offerings of your hand, and
• your vows, and
• your freewill offerings, and the
• firstlings of your herds and of your flocks;

Rashi clarifies the meaning of each of the underlined offering types by citing an other veres discussing this offering type.

For example the firstling offering is discussed in the other verse Nu18-15:18 which states Every thing that opens the womb in all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether it is of men or beasts, shall be yours; nevertheless the first born of man shall you surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shall you redeem. .... But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy; you shall sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savor to the Lord. And the flesh of them shall be yours, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are yours.

Similarly the tithes are discussed in the other verse Dt14-22:27 You shall truly tithe all the produce of your seed, that the field brings forth year by year. And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks; that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. And if the way is too long for you, ... Then shall you redeem the tithe into money,....

This is a particularly good illustration of the other verse method since all Rashi does is clarify the cross reference.

One of Rashi's 10 major methods is the word meaning method. One word meaning sub-method studies how prefix and suffix letters change root meanings.

The Hebrew root Aleph-Beth-Daleth means to destroy. Rashi translates the same root with an extra terminal nun, Aleph-Beth-Daleth-Nun as meaning to eradicate. Hence Rashi translates Dt12-02a as follows You shall destroy and eradicate all the places, where the nations which you shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree;

Here Rashi uses the general rule that a terminal nun indicates intensity. Here are some other examples
• The Hebrew word Resh-Yud-Beth means to dispute. However the addition of a terminal nun, creates the word Resh-Yud-Beth-Nun which means to intensely dispute, in other words a fist-fight.
• The Hebrew root Shin-Resh means prince; with a terminal nun, we obtain the word Shin-Resh-Nun which means governor an intense form of princehood.
• The Hebrew prefix Beth means in; with a terminal nun the word Beth-Yud-Nun means in-between, an intense form of in-ness (inbetween severeal objects).

A special role of grammar is to present the rules of conjugation. Rashi following the talmud interpreted the meaning of a 4-letter root as the sum of the meanings of the constituent two 2-letter roots.

There are many examples. Perhaps the most famous is
• The etymology of the Hebrew Mem-Mem-Zayin-Resh, an illegitimate person, is blemished (Mem-mem) by a stranger (Zayin-Resh).
• The Hebrew Cheth Caph Lamed Lamed, intoxicating, comes from swirling (Lamed Lamed), from the palate (Cheth Caph).
• The Hebrew Daleth-Mem-Sin-Kuph, follower, means desires (Shin-Kuph) to resemble (Daleth Mem) me.
• Rashi interprets the Hebrew Beth Lamed Yud Ayin Lamed as meaning without (Beth Lamed Yud) yoke (Ayin Lamed). Perhaps some good translations would be rowdy, mobbish,....

Hence Rashi would translates Dt13-14 using the word Rowdy or mobish. The verse states Certain rowdy, mobbish men, have gone out from among you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known;

Note the deliciously delicate alignment of the underlined words in the following verses
• Verse Dt14-02 discussing our chosenness states
  • For you are a holy people to the Lord your God,
  • and the Lord has chosen you to be a special people to himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
• Verse Dt07-06 also discussing our chosenness states
  • For you are a holy people to the Lord your God;
  • the Lord your God has chosen you to be a special people to himself, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

Note the subtle underlined difference: The verses are identical except that one verse has the added word and while the other verse does not. The essence of the alignment method is to uncover such anomalies. Hence the Rashi comment There are two ways at looking at holiness-choseness
• You are holy in performing God's will and therefore God chose you
• You were already holy because of the promise to the Patriarchs and now God has chosen you.

In other words the word and indicates sequence--patriarchs, you-- while the lack of the word and indicates identity--God chose you because you are holy (from your current deeds).

This example is particuarly good in that the interpretation of the alignment is not catchy and clear but has a subjective element. This flavor is typical of the alignment method.

Note the contradiction between the following two verses speaking about offering sacrifices away from the place that God has chosen, Jerusalem.
• Dt12-13 explicitly prohibits Take heed to yourself that you offer not your burnt offerings in every place that you see;
• 1K18-19:39 states And therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to Mount Carmel,.... Let them therefore give us two bulls; .... And Elijah took twelve stones, .... And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; ... And he put the wood pile in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood pile, and the stones, ... And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.

We see the Contradiction. Which is it? If we are prohibited from offering sacrifices outside Jerusalem then why was Elijah allowed to offer at Mount Carmel?

Rashi resolves this contradiction using the two aspects method of resolution
• Ordinary people may not offer sacrifices outside Jerusalem
• But a prophet may temporarily offer sacrifices outside Jerusalem (or violate temporarily other Biblical commandments) in order to strengthen religious observance.

Dt12-02:03 has a General Theme - Developmental details - General Theme style as follows:
• General theme: Eradicate all the places, ...
  Detail:
  • Overthrow their altars, and
  • Break their pillar gods, and
  • Burn their tree Gods with fire;and
  • cut down their carved images
• General Theme: Destroy their names from that place

We suggest that the General-Detail-General form is the Biblical way of indicating a Biblical paragraph. The above example is particularly interesting since it hilights the two main features of the Rabbi Ishmael style rules
• The General Theme is restricted and modified by the developmental details: Hence the Rashi comment You do not have to eradicate all places (Parched earth). Rather the requirement is to eradicate the idolatry.
• The details are not rigid but are perceived as examples reflecting the General theme. Consequently the Detail examples should be slightly generalized. Hence the Rashi comment Besides physically destroying the idols we should also emotionally destroy their name by creating nicknames that poke fun at them.

Traditionally the Rabbi Ishmael rules are taught apodictically: The details should be slightly generalized and the general theme should be modified and restricted by the details. What we have added to the Rabbi Ishmael rules is a model on why this is so: The Rabbi Ishmael style rules follow in a natural way if we perceive the General-Detail-General verses as a paragraph unit. Consequently paragraphs require that the theme is developed and restricted by the details while the details in turn are generalized to reflect items similar to the paragraph theme.

A modern author that wishes to indicate unspecified emphasis would use bold, underline, italics. The Biblical Author instead uses repetition. That is repeated words phrases or verses indicate emphasis.

A classical example is the prohibition of consuming blood which occurs 5 times in the Bible. The main prohibition with an accompanying reason is presented in Lv17-11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul. In other words the blood symbolizes the soul since increased blood activity is associated with increased desires and vice verse. To honor the sanctity of the symbolism we are prohibited from contaminating the symbol by eating blood.

It follows that the real prohibition is on the gushing blood that emanates from the slaughter of sacrifices. This gushing blood symbolizes physical desire and the sacrificial procedure teaches us how to control our physical desires. It might follow that non-sacrificial blood and non-gushing blood are not prohibited since they do not symbolize desire and life.

Verses Dt12-20:25 discuss the allowance to eat non-sacrificial meat when we enter Israel When the Lord your God shall enlarge your border, as he has promised you, and you shall say, I will eat meat, because your soul longs to eat meat; you may eat meat, to your heart’s desire.... Only be sure that you eat not the blood; for the blood is the life; and you may not eat the life with the flesh. You shall not eat it; you shall pour it upon the earth as water. You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.

Notice the thrice repeated prohibition of eating blood
• First the bible prohibits gushing blood for non sacrificial purposes since gushing blood symbolizes life and we must honor the sanctity of the symbol.
• Next we are told not to eat blood that we pour upon the earth. Hence the Rashi comment: The repetition emphasizes that even draining blood (which is poured on the earth) should not be eaten.
• Finally the last repetition of not eating blood emphasizes ...that even organ blood (blood remaining in the organs which has never gushed out) is prohibited.

In each case Rashi interprets the repetition much the same way we would interpret bold, underline, italics. Rashi infers the particulars of the emphasis from the surrounding context of the verse: If the verse speaks about pouring blood then the prohibition is on draining blood. If the verse simply reemphasizes not eating blood then even non-gushing blood, organ blood is prohibited.

There is a certain subjectivity in interpreting a repetition. But in English also there is subjectivity in interpreting underline, bold, italics. The important point is that the unspecified emphasis is clearly indicated in the verse and we must interpret it.

Todays example is a classical application of the database method. Rashi asks the query: For the observance of which commandments does God promise reward? The query uncovers half a dozen commandments. These commandments span all situations:
• easy commandments
• difficult commandments
• Communal commandments
• Commandments I would do anyway...

Hence the Rashi comment Observance of all commandments entails reward. The Bible simply picked extreme cases of all the commandments in order to emphasize the principle. The list below presents the results of the query and shows us the emphasis in each case.

The following commandments mention reward
• Easy commandments: Verse Dt22-07 states If a bird’s nest chances to be before you in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they are young ones, or eggs, and the mother sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; But you shall let the mother go, and take the young to you; that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.
• Communal commandments Verse Dt16-20b states 20. Justice, only justice shall you pursue, that you may live, and inherit the land which the Lord your God gives you.
• Government commandments: Verse Dt17-18:20b states And it shall be, when he [The king] sits upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Torah in a book from that which is before the priests the Levites; ....to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
• Things I would abstain from anyway(Not eating blood) Verse Dt12-25b states You shall not eat it [blood]; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.
• Commandments not requiring intention/action: Verse Dt24-19b states When you cut down your harvest in your field, a and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to fetch it; it shall be for the stranger, for the orphan, and for the widow; that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
• Educational (non-action) commandments: Verse Dt11-19:21a states And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ... That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
• Common sense obligations: Verse Ex20-12a states Honor your father and your mother; that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you.

This week's parshah contains no examples of the spreadsheet and symbolism, method. This concludes this weeks edition. Visit the RashiYomi website at http://www.Rashiyomi.com for further details and examples.